New Hampshire

I have a New Hampshire Red hen and she is an absolute joy to have. She is super friendly and doesn't mind at all being held. She follows me around the yard and even jumps on my shoulder sometimes! She lays her eggs every other day and is quiet most of the times. After she does lay her egg though she does have her brief "egg song" and she is LOUD then but it only lasts for a few moments (something to consider if you live in the suburbs). Lastly, she survived through our harsh Illinois winters with such resilience, she was even still laying eggs here and there during the cold months! In all, this is a great breed of chicken to have, whether you are a beginner, novice, or expert in backyard chickens!

My New Hampshire Red hen named April:

New Hampshire chickens are pretty cool. They lay a lot of eggs, have nice colored feathers, handle all weather well, and aren't very noisy. HOWEVER, they are definitely not lap-chickens, and will usually not let you handle them.

I absolutely LOVED copper! So fun to watch. Head hen. She was very curious and often found the best worms and such, and loved free-ranging. She also could escape and fight off any predators. Helped our EE roo Fluffy defend the flock from chickenhawks. Fluffy was very laid back so Copper led the flock a lot of the time. She loved me too!

She didn't like new chickens though. Would tolerate them but would sometimes be aggressive. Never escaped the coop but would always be searching and finding ways to escape the yard.

i love my little butterscotch
She is a New Hampshire red that is awfully sweet. She may be the standard black and brown but I wouldn’t have her any other way

Our NH is only 26 weeks old so maybe it's too soon to write a valid review... BUT she's an AMAZING layer!! At 26 weeks she's been laying for about 4 weeks AND she's already laying 6 eggs/week. They're a beautiful pinkish brown and shiny. Personality-wise she's not sit-on-your-lap friendly but she always comes to greet me, talks to me whenever I visit them, and fits in well with the flock. I'm quite happy with my Little Red Hen!

UPDATE: Our Marigold is now about 14 months old and hasn't slowed down in the least. She went 8 days before taking a day off (and the temps have been in the mid to high 90s) and regularly gives us 6 eggs/week still. She's also super-healthy and I have not had a single concern with her yet. I would get this breed again in a heartbeat!

This is the perfect backyard chicken in my opinion. Mine lays the largest eggs in my flock. Beautiful eggs, light pinkish brown and thick shelled. She was my only chicken who laid every day throughout the winter. She is docile, sweet and quiet. My only complaint is that she hates being held, I know this won't matter for most folks!

I always keep a couple of these birds in my flocks. These birds are not amazing egg layers but they will lay for a long time. At an older age they tend to be egg eaters so extra protein and calcium is recommended. These hens are independent and seem to avoid predators very well. They are friendly and non-aggressive. Over the years we have gotten New Hampshires from different sources, and they seem vary from from hatchery to hatchery. From personal experience, McMurray has been the best for us.

Good all around chickens, Fastest maturing I have had. Started laying around the 18 week mark for earliest. Not impressed with amount of breast meat on excess roosters I culled. But they are hatchery stock and with selection will get better.

i had 1 new hampshire red hen, i purchased as a chick from murray mcmurray hatchery, i let my father name her when she was a chick, and he named her sunshine! she was very sweet. and she was very pretty, too! i picked her out because i wanted to get a red-ish chicken, but i didnt want a rhode island red. she started to lay when she was 5 1/2 months old, and her 1st egg was BIG!!! unfortunately i sold her the day she laid her 1st egg, she was a little mean to my timid chickens and she would peck them when she were eating or drinking while she was eating or drinking. but she was always nice to me, she would fallow me around the yard waiting to give her a snack.



here she is as a chick (she is on the left)



and here is a pic of her when she was 5 months

I have 2 NH Red Hens mixed in with my Buff Orpingtons, Speckled Sussex hens and a Roo and my Easter Eggers. They are the first to run to greet me when I walk through the gate and follow me around everywhere. They let me pick them right up with no fussing. Mine are very late layers because they are over 25 weeks old and I have not received an egg from either of them. Their vents and Pelvic bones do not show any signs of being ready either.
What I don't like about this breed is how aggressive they are to my other birds. Especially my Easter Eggers. They will not let my poor timid Easter Eggers around if I'm feeding treats and will peck them and run them off. They also will try and attack any bird that I pick up off the ground. I am so glad that I do not have a NH Red Roo because if the girls are this aggressive I can't imagine how aggressive the males are. Because of how late they lay and their aggressiveness towards other breeds and I would not get this breed again.

I have six new Hampshire Hybrids ( half wyandotte half new Hampshire) and they are just the goofiest friendliest funiest ever. They all take dirtbaths together. They are very sweet . I love em all! I recommend them. They are extremely cannibalistic to whoever the runt is.

These birds are pretty, lay pretty well, and are great free rangers. I love this breed but boy can they fly (at least the bantams I have can)! These chickens are probably the best at flying that I have ever run across. Mine are also pretty skittish, but that is probably because I didn't have them as day olds and they probably didn't get held that much.

These birds are good and I would recommend them, just keep in mind that the bantams can be flighty.

My New Hampshire girl is a a very curious and friendly chicken. She's a great layer (I get an egg everyday!) and even lays through the winter. The only con I can think of is that she probably eats more than any other chicken I've had. If you're a beginner and want a larger bird I think new hampshires are the way to go!

I have raised dozens of these birds, and am very impressed with them. They are great duel purpose birds, and have very nice personality's. I recommend this breed!

I have one new hampshire red hen and I adore her, she has beautiful, red plumage and is not a fuss. I really love her. She lays very well and is not at all noisy. She can pick on other chickens, but rarely and she is definitely one of the smartest chickens of the flock. I have not noticed her going broody at all, which is not a problem for me. She also is amenable to being handled, but does not enjoy it, as our Orpington's do.

both of them are roos and i got them at TSC unsexed (thats a way to get one. i new a guy that got 10 chicks and 9 of them were roos!). pine is the sweetest roo in the world (he'll only eat out of my hand )and cherry is the meanest in the world.he attacks me at the slightest look at his hens . we will be re-homing him soon we were going to give him to one of my fathers coworkers but we found out that he had no hens so we told him we would wait until he had some(we are suspicious that he was into cockfighting.)in the future pine is going to be our main roo. thats all i have to say for now .
orpluvr

I have the sweetest New Hampshire pullet ever. She's my lap chicken. All my chickens stay in a run 24/7 but she is so great I let her out to free range while I do my chicken chores. She comes when I call her, super easy to catch (aka reach down and pick up-no actual catching involved) great with the other chickens, beautiful, and EVERYTHING

This is the sweetest birds ever (towards humans) both come when it looks like you may have treats or feed or just to see what I'm doing leading her to nearly die at just 2 months old from jumping within inches of my table saw blade (while it was on). Takes confinement and free ranging well unlike some of my flock which i love because their are some days i don't get home till all most 7 or later and free ranging just wouldn't be practical. When i started free ranging she was on the roost at 5:34 most of the flock followed suit after wards. i wanted to get a whole flock of Rhodie island reds but i just couldn't make it happen so i got five chicks at my feed store two of them being brown and it turns out they where new Hampshire's my favorite is baby girl they both eat from my hand but she is my only layer at the moment and loves to be petted. She has been laying for almost 2 weeks she did miss a day but she does lay very consistently.

Now for the cons

Despite my best efforts this baby girl WILL NOT lay inside the nest boxes leading me to have to step very carefully in the coop as not to break the egg until i find it, even though ideal has the eggs layed by this breed as large. The only eggs i get from baby girl are bantam sized and i know she lays them because i have watched her do so and because she lets off the most god awful horrible "chicken being eaten alive by a coyote" Noises up to an hour before laying said egg. leading me to believe for 2 straight weeks that something was after my chickens in the coop and hurting my self getting out to the coop to see her arranging hay in her "today" nesting spot
Baby girl was originally named big boy her comb and waddles grew so huge in such a short time (full comb and waddles at 12 weeks) we thought she was a rooster i even had a ad here on BYC saying such for about a month. Baby girl and works (my other new Hampshire) are both super sweet to people so much so i would be happy to show them to my nephews and nieces but to other birds is a different story i have a single brown campine and white leghorn they both will not stop picking at their breast and tail feathers not to mention they peck at them constantly if either one roosts to close to them no blood has ever been drawn but i don't like it. And for some reason they both will not stop treating the bantam half of the flock like chicks i caught baby girl trying to shove one of my white bantams under her wing of course it doesn't help that i have extra small bantams.


here are some pics of baby girl and works (Bottom to top)

My NHR loves food! I never see her without a full crop (except in the morning, and then she goes up to me and begs for food! Lol!). She lets me pick her up and pet her and she follows me around for treats. Today, she finished her mash and used my shoe to wipe her beak off.

Unlike my other hens, she's a lot heavier and can't fly so far and high. Thus i don't have to chase her around if she flew over my five foot fence. But even if she did fly over it, it wouldn't be hard to catch her, because she lets you just scoop her up and carry her on her back (Granted, she prefers to be carried right side up, but she lets you carry her upside down.)

She's a real sweetie and a fantastic breed!